What to start with?

I thought that since I already have the inktense and coffee, just not everything I need, perhaps, we can just get started, and then finish up once we have the rest. If you missed my last post, I talked out what I wanted to accomplish for this project. I want to spread compassion by collecting stories from every minority group possible. So I will need your help with this. I will also need your help figuring out which group to start with. I haven’t quite decided how I’m going to put it all together yet until it’s in a book, so I’d love any ideas you have. One idea I have is to put each set in a PDF for now.

First let’s define a minority group before we decide. A group who has significantly less control or power over their lives than the dominant group. They typically have distinguishing physical or cultural traits, no choice in their minority status, awareness of their “lesser” status and bonding with other members, and a high number of marriage within their group. We could probably expand this definition, but I think we should probably keep it sort for the purposes of this post.

Here are some minority groups that we could start with. These are predominately ones from the US just because that’s where I live and where most people I interact with live. Racial minorities are those classified by physical traits such as skin color; Black, Native American, Asian, Hawaiian. Cultural and ethnic minorities are classified by things such as language, food, and traditions; Hispanic or Latino, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Jewish (not all Jews are religious). Ethnic minorities can vary from location, so this one can be hard to list. For gender minorities, men are the social majority while women are the social minority. I wasn’t sure which group to put LGBTQ in since it’s such a wide group, but I think perhaps gender might work. Religious minorities are those who have a religion other than the dominant; Muslim, Jewish, Amish, Mormon, Hinduism, Buddhism, Shikhism, Atheism.

Obviously, I left out some. It’s impossible to list every single one. We’d be here too long. I think this a good start. As we start this journey together, I doubt everything will be perfect. It would be nice to believe it will be, but that’s not realistic. If we’re to have a large group of people from various backgrounds, then there are likely to be hurt feelings at some point. I believe that most people aren’t intentionally trying to hurt another. So if you’ve found something that rubs you wrong, I suggest the following format: Explain what the other person did or said that upset you and how it made you feel without throwing insults, because that will immediately make them defensive, and they will stop listening. You want them to listen and understand, so help them to. For the other person: If someone comes to you with something, listen to their feelings. We don’t have to agree with each other to treat each other kindly and with respect. Apologize for the offense, because I doubt you meant to hurt them, and ask how they would like you to respond to them in the future, and do your best to speak to them that way going forward.

I’d like to know what group you’d like to start with, and if there’s another one you’d like to add, please let me know. I’d be happy to. Just leave a comment below with reason as why that group would be classified as a minority group.

To make it easy, I did this voting box. That way, you can vote without having to actually leave a comment. Once voting is done, I’ll get started on the project. I mostly just want to know what stories I can get. If we have more than one with some large numbers, then maybe I randomly choose one by picking one out of a hat or something.